Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Near-Death Experience (NDE)

Another fascinating phenomenon
closely related to the OBE is the NDE or Near-Death Experience.The NDE is essentially the ultimate OBE
occurring at the moment of physical death.Throughout history people who have died and later been resuscitated
report the same story of consciousness leaving their physical body, entering a realm
of love and light, meeting angelic beings, and watching their entire lives
flash before their eyes.Slight
differences exist in various accounts of NDEs, but these pale next to the
incredible universal similarities.The
typical NDE is as follows:

“A man
is dying and suddenly finds himself floating above his body and watching what
is going on.Within moments he travels
at great speed through a darkness or a tunnel.He enters a realm of dazzling light and is warmly met by recently
deceased friends and relatives.Frequently he hears indescribably beautiful music and sees sights – rolling meadows,
flower-filled valleys, and sparkling streams – more lovely than anything he has
seen on earth.In this light-filled
world he feels no pain or fear and is pervaded with an overwhelming feeling of
joy, love, and peace.He meets a ‘being
(and/or beings) of light’ who emanates a feeling of enormous compassion, and is
prompted by the being(s) to experience a ‘life review,’ a panoramic replay of
his life.He becomes so enraptured by
his experience of this greater reality that he desires nothing more than to
stay. However, the being tells him that it is not his time yet and persuades
him to return to his earthly life and reenter his physical body.”-Michael Talbot, “The Holographic Universe”
(240)

“A
man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he
hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable
noise, a loud ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels himself moving
very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he suddenly finds himself
outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical
environment, and he sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a
spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage point
and is in a state of emotional upheaval.After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his
odd condition. He notices that he still has a ‘body’ but one of a very
different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has
left behind.Soon other things begin to
happen. Others come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of
relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving, warm spirit of a
kind he has never encountered before - a being of light - appears before him.
This being asks him a question, nonverbally, to make him evaluate his life and
helps him along by showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major
events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of
barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and
the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go, back to the earth, that the time
for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is
taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want
to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace.
Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and
lives.”–Dr. Raymond
Moody, “Life After Life” (34)

Considering the fact that
“hallucination” is the usual skeptical argument against NDEs, it is important
to note that the main features are amazingly consistent.The “hallucination” always begins by finding oneself
in a non-physical body somewhere near your now lifeless physical body.At this point your consciousness becomes more
expansive than ever, all sensation and perception becomes incredibly lucid, you
can hear the thoughts and feel the feelings of everyone around, and you can
travel at the speed of thought.Eventually the physical world begins to fade as you proceed to float through
a luminous tunnel, walk up a long staircase, cross a narrow bridge or other
such transitional, archetypal scene.In
Greek mythology all newly deceased souls crossed the river Styx
on a ferry boat from the world of the living to Hades, the world of the
dead.After transitioning from the world
of the living, you begin to see or feel the presence of deceased friends/relatives,
angels, so-called “light-beings” who communicate telepathically and send
overwhelming emanations of love.You are
then shown a full spectrum playback of your entire life accurate to the finest
detail which you re-experience from this space of expanded consciousness able
to think, feel, and fully understand not only yourself but everyone you have ever
interacted with in life.You feel the
betrayal of a cheated spouse, understand your enemies, realize your true
friends, and so on; you feel and experience the consequences of your actions on
everyone else.Ultimately you are told
or decide to come back to the world of the living and find yourself stuck in
your physical body right at the moment of your resuscitation.This seems like quite a coherent, meaningful,
and oft-repeated sequence of events to be so casually labeled “hallucination.”

“It
was nothing like an hallucination. I have had hallucinations once, when I was
given codeine in the hospital. But that had happened long before the accident
which really killed me. And this experience was nothing like the
hallucinations, nothing like them at all … I tried to tell my minister, but he
told me I had been hallucinating, so I shut up … I tried to tell my nurses what
had happened when I woke up, but they told me not to talk about it, that I was
just imagining things. So, in the words of one person: you learn very quickly
that people don't take to this as easily as you would like for them to. You
simply don't jump up on a little soapbox and go around telling everyone these
things.” –Dr. Raymond Moody, “Life After Life” (34-6)

“Some people later choose to
relate their NDE experiences to doctors, relatives and friends, however it is
likely the vast majority do not, often believing for example they will not be believed
or worse are considered to have been hallucinating due to the anesthetic or
other medical factors associated with the medical situation, or suffering from
after-effects arising from the physical condition leading to the NDE.Other people are afraid to relate NDE
experiences on the basis they might be considered to be mentally deranged or
will be ridiculed.To most people
experiencing an NDE, relating the experience to others seems pointless, the
experience itself being so intensely profound and personal.Research has proven however that literally
millions of people have experienced an NDE, most of which are described as
deeply profound, life changing experiences.” -Adrian Cooper, “Our Ultimate
Reality” (394)

Regardless
of many so-called experts claiming the contrary, no near-death experiencer ever
considers their NDE to have been a hallucination.In fact, universally, NDErs report the
experience to be “more real than this reality” and “like returning home.”Not to mention, during the NDE, these
patients are indeed clinically dead and showing zero brain activity which
fundamentally sets NDEs apart from traditional “hallucinations.”Furthermore, there are hundreds of documented
cases in which NDErs come back to life and report in detail actual events that
occurred while they were “dead” and out of body!This obviously conflicts with the notion that
NDEs are mere hallucinations.

“Although the orthodox view of
NDEs is that they are just hallucinations, there is substantial evidence that
this is not the case.As with OBEs, when
NDEers are out-of-body, they are able to report details they have no normal
sensory means of knowing.For example,
Moody reports a case in which a woman left her body during surgery, floated
into the waiting room, and saw that her daughter was wearing mismatched
plaids.As it turned out, the maid had
dressed the little girl so hastily she had not noticed the error and was
astounded when the mother, who did not physically see the little girl that day,
commented on the fact.In another case,
after leaving her body, a female NDEer went to the hospital lobby and over
heard her brother-in-law tell a friend that it looked like he was going to have
to cancel a business trip and instead be one of his sister-in-law’s pall
bearers. After the woman recovered, she
reprimanded her astonished brother-in-law for writing her off so quickly.”-Michael Talbot, “The Holographic Universe”
(241)

“Several doctors
have told me, for example, that they are utterly baffled about how patients
with no medical knowledge could describe in such detail and so correctly the
procedure used in resuscitation attempts, even though these events took place
while the doctors knew the patients involved to be ‘dead.’ In several cases,
persons have related to me how they amazed their doctors or others with reports
of events they had witnessed while out of the body. While she was dying, for
example, one girl went out of her body and into another room in the hospital
where she found her older sister crying and saying, ‘Oh, Kathy, please don't
die, please don't die.’ The older sister was quite baffled when, later, Kathy
told her exactly where she had been and what she had been saying, during this
time.” –Dr. Raymond Moody, “Life After Life” (40)

To date
there are hundreds of independently verified and documented cases in which
NDErs have come back to life accurately reporting events that happened in other
rooms / buildings / places while they were “dead.”Even more astonishing, there are several
cases in which blind NDErs have gained sight while out of body and given
detailed visually accurate accounts of their surroundings!NDE researcher Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
interviewed many such clinically blind patients who were able to see perfectly
while “dead” and out of body.She wrote
that, “to our amazement, they were able to describe the color and design of
clothing and jewelry the people present wore.”

“Raymond
Moody, Kenneth Ring, Michael Sabom, Elisabeth Kubler- Ross, and other highly
respected researchers, have repeatedly confirmed that people in near-death
situations have had out-of-body-experiences (OOBEs), during which they were
able to witness events happening in other rooms or even distant places. These
accounts have been objectively verified by independent observers. The ultimate
challenge to Newtonian science in this area of research has been the discovery
that clinically blind people experiencing OOBEs describe scenes that are
visually accurate, though after recovering from the disease or trauma that caused
the near-death experience they are not able to see.”-Stanislav
Grof, “The Holotropic Mind” (133-134)

“People
who have 'near death' or 'out-of-body' experiences describe how they could
still see while they were looking down at their bodies lying on the operating
table or wherever. If we see with our eyes, or indeed even our brain, how come
we can see without them?” –David Icke, “Infinite Love is the Only Truth,
Everything Else is Illusion” (107)

Dr. Raymond Moody is
the psychologist/medical doctor who actually coined the term “near-death
experience” in his 1975 book Life After Life.After conducting interviews and an in-depth study of 150 patients who
had clinically died and come back, Dr. Moody became a firm believer in life after
death.Since then he has written nearly
a dozen more intriguing books on the subject.His research identifies nine experiences common to almost all NDEs:

-Hearing
sounds such as buzzing

-Feeling
absolute peace and painlessness

-Having
an out-of-body experience

-Traveling
through a tunnel

-Rising
into the heavens

-Seeing
angels or dead relatives

-Meeting
a spiritual being such as God

-Seeing
a review of one’s life

-Feeling
reluctant to return to life

Dr.
Moody’s research also focuses on the after-effects NDEs have on people
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.His patients came back from their near-deaths with many epiphanies, new
paradigms and lifestyle changes, all of them positive.For instance most NDErs came back with a more
jovial, relaxed demeanor, a more sincere, loving, forgiving, appreciative
attitude, and became less worldly and more intuitive, less materialistic and
more spiritual.

“One of the most important aspects of Moody's study is his
discussion of the effects the death experiences had on the lives of these
individuals. They felt that their lives had broadened and deepened. They
developed serious interest in ultimate philosophical and spiritual issues, and
started pursuing quite different values in life than before. Existence suddenly
appeared much more precious, and much more emphasis was put on a full
experience of the present moment, on the here and now. There were deep changes
in the concept of the relative importance of the physical body and the mind;
rarely, this was associated with the development of psychic abilities.”-Stanislav
Grof and Joan Halifax, “Human Encounter with Death” (156)

“One last piece of evidence
of the reality of the NDE is the transformative effect it has on those who
experience it.Researchers have discovered
that NDEers are almost always profoundly changed by their journey to the
beyond.They become happier, more
optimistic, more easygoing, and less concerned with material possessions.Most striking of all, their capacity to love
expands enormously.Aloof husbands
suddenly become warm and affectionate, workaholics start relaxing and devoting
time to their families, and introverts become extroverts.These changes are often so dramatic that
people who know the NDEer frequently remark that he or she has become an
entirely different person.There are
even cases on record of criminals completely reforming their ways, and
fire-and-brimstone preachers replacing their message of damnation with one of
unconditional love and compassion.NDEers also become much more spiritually oriented.They return not only firmly convinced of the
immortality of the human soul, but also with a deep and abiding sense that the
universe is compassionate and intelligent, and this loving presence is always
with them.”-Michael
Talbot, “The Holographic Universe” (268-9)

Perhaps
the most amazing and fascinating aspect of NDEs is that no one ever wants to
come back to life, and once they do, they lose all fear of death!The beauty, the wonder, the feelings of
absolute bliss and contentment experienced on “the other side” are so
compelling that everyone wishes nothing more than to stay.Inevitably though, once they do come back,
they are never again afraid to die.NDErs are not afraid to die because they have personally experienced the
continuation of consciousness beyond physical death and this gnosis alleviates
any fear.Dr. Moody commented on this
phenomenon, saying that, “As one might reasonably expect, this experience
has a profound effect upon one's attitude towards physical death, especially
for those who had not previously expected that anything took place after death.
In some form or another, almost every person has expressed to me the thought
that he is no longer afraid of death.”Here are just a few testimonies from Dr. Moody’s patients:

1) “I am thoroughly
convinced that there is life after death, without a shadow of a doubt, and I am
not afraid to die. I am not. Some people I have known are so afraid, so scared.
I always smile to myself when I hear people doubt that there is an afterlife,
or say, ‘When you're dead, you're gone.’ I think to myself, ‘They really don't
know.’ I've had many things happen to me in my life. In business, I've had a
gun pulled on me and put to my temple. And it didn't frighten me very much,
because I thought, ‘Well, if I really die, if they really kill me, I know I'll
still live somewhere.’”

2)
“When I was a little boy I used to dread dying. I used to wake up at night
crying and having a fit. My mother and father would rush into the bedroom and
ask what was wrong. I told them that I didn't want to die, but that I knew l
had to, and asked if they could stop it. My mother would talk to me and tell
me, ‘No, that's just the way it is and we all have to face it.’ She said that
we all had to do it alone and that when the time came we would do it all right.
And years later after my mother died I would talk about death with my wife. I
still feared it. I didn't want it to come. But since this experience, I don't
fear death. Those feelings vanished. I don't feel bad at funerals anymore. I
kind of rejoice at them, because I know what the dead person has been through.”

3)
“Now, I am not afraid to die. It's not that I have a death wish or want to
die right now. I don't want to be living over there on the other side now,
because I'm supposed to be living here. The reason why I'm not afraid to die,
though, is that I know where I'm going when I leave here, because I've been
there before.” –Dr. Raymond Moody, “Life After Life”

Dr. Moody comments
that, “The reason why death is no longer frightening, as all of these
excerpts express, is that after his experience a person no longer entertains
any doubts about his survival of bodily death. It is no longer merely an
abstract possibility to him, but a fact of his experience.” Many of Dr. Moody’s patients have actually
ceased using the word “death” altogether, insisting that if by “death” one
means “the annihilation of consciousness,” then death is a misnomer – it does
not exist.Moody seems to agree with
this assertion as evidenced by the title of his first NDE book, “Life After
Life.”One of his patients stated, “Some
say that we are not using the word ‘death’ because we are trying to escape from
it. That's not true in my case. After you've once had the experience that I
had, you know in your heart that there's no such thing as death. You just
graduate from one thing to another - like from grammar school to high school to
college.”

“NDE,
OBE and astral projection are all experiences reproducing what will happen to
each and every person at the point of physical death, resulting in a profound
knowing of the truth of the higher realities and the continuation of life after
the death of the physical body.Anyone
enjoying these experiences will profoundly know beyond any doubts the state
known as ‘death’ is not final but is rather the continuation of a much greater
adventure, the next stage in life as an immortal spiritual being of the
multi-dimensional universe.” -Adrian Cooper, “Our Ultimate Reality”
(397)

In 1981 Gallup performed a telling poll which found
that eight million adult Americans (over 5% of the population) had experienced
an NDE!This massive figure means that
if NDEs are mere hallucinations as the orthodox establishment would have us
believe, then they are absolutely epidemic mass hallucinations affecting
millions and millions.Is
this even plausible?

“What Sabom discovered, much to his surprise, was the level of
commonality expressed by those who reported NDEs – one that has remained
consistent throughout all such subsequent research.Often the experience involves the person
traveling through a tunnel to an all-encompassing light that innately feels
loving and blissful, to be met by departed loved ones or archetypal or iconic
figures.There’s an expansion of
awareness regularly accompanied by a nonjudgmental but frank life review.And sometimes – appearing to be by personal
choice and other times by a gentle but firm mandate – the person is made to
return to his or her life often with the profound sense of having to complete a
mission.”-Ervin Laszlo and Jude
Currivan, “Cosmos” (146)

Dr. Sabom
found there was no difference in religious convictions between NDErs and
non-NDErs, nor was there any difference in being previously aware of the
existence of such experiences.In fact,
more patients who had NDEs were previously unaware of the existence of NDEs,
than those who were already aware of them. Dr. Sabom’s research concluded that
NDEs happen regardless of expectation, religion, culture or creed.

“NDEers also have no unique
demographic characteristics.Various
studies have shown that there is no relationship between NDEs and a person’s
age, sex, marital status, race, religion, and/or spiritual beliefs, social
class, educational level, income, frequency of church attendance, size of home
community, or area of residence.NDEs,
like lightning, can strike anyone at any time.The devoutly religious are no more likely to have an NDE than
nonbelievers.”-Michael Talbot, “The
Holographic Universe” (240)

In 1990 pediatrician Dr. Melvin Morse first became interested in the
NDE phenomenon after interviewing 12 young children recently resuscitated from
cardiac arrest and 8 of them reporting NDEs.Over the next 10 years Dr. Morse interviewed every cardiac arrest
survivor at his hospital.Time and time
again, he heard the same story recounted.The patients found themselves outside their physical bodies, watched the
doctors scramble to resuscitate them, were drawn into a mystical tunnel, and
greeted by angelic light beings.

“Dr.
Melvin Morse, a pediatrician in Seattle, Washington, first became interested in
NDEs after treating a seven year-old drowning victim.By the time the little girl was resuscitated
she was profoundly comatose, had fixed and dilated pupils, no muscle reflexes,
and no corneal response … Despite these odds, she made a full recovery and when
Morse looked in on her for the first time after she regained consciousness she
recognized him and said that she had watched him working on her comatose
body.When Morse questioned her further
she explained that she had left her body and passed through a tunnel into
heaven where she had met ‘the Heavenly Father.’The Heavenly Father told her she was not really meant to be there yet
and asked if she wanted to stay or go back.At first she said she wanted to stay, but when the Heavenly Father
pointed out that that decision meant she would not be seeing her mother again,
she changed her mind and returned to her body.Morse was skeptical but fascinated and from that point on set out to
learn everything he could about NDEs.”-Michael Talbot, “The Holographic Universe” (242-243)

Dr. Pim Van Lommel is
another leading cardiologist who became convinced there is life after death due
to hearing the NDE accounts of so many patients.In 2001 he interviewed 344 heart patients at
his Netherlands
hospital who had been clinically dead for at least 5 minutes.62 of them (or 18%) reported having lucid
OBEs or NDEs, and could recall in detail specifics of what happened during
their time spent “dead” out of body.Since 2001, Van Lommel has resigned his post as practicing cardiologist
to pursue his research into NDEs.

“Dutch
cardiologist Pim van Lommel produced a massive study of near-death experiences
that supported the whole concept of life after death, as well as raising
questions about DNA, the collective unconscious and the idea of 'karma'. His
findings were published in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Van Lommel's interest was
sparked 35 years ago when a patient told him about her near-death experience,
but his serious study only began after he later read a book called Return from Tomorrow in which the
American doctor, George Ritchie, detailed his own experience of 'near-death'.
Van Lommel began to ask all his patients if they remembered anything during
their cardiac arrests" –David Icke, “The David Icke Guide to
the Global Conspiracy” (23)

In one
popular case, a female NDEer found herself moving towards the light at the end
of the tunnel and saw a friend of hers coming back the other way!As they passed each other, the friend
telepathically communicated that he had died but was being sent back.Confused, the woman continued down the tunnel
only to eventually be sent back herself.Upon resuscitation, she discovered that her friend had suffered cardiac
arrest at approximately the same time and vividly remembered seeing and
communicating with her as well! Here are a few quotes from some of Van Lommel’s other patients
about their NDEs:

1) “I became 'detached'
from the body and hovered within and around it. It was possible to see the
surrounding bedroom and my body even though my eyes were closed. I was suddenly
able to 'think' hundreds or thousands of times faster, and with greater clarity,
than is humanly normal or possible. At this point I realized and accepted that
I had died. It was time to move on. It was a feeling of total peace -
completely without fear or pain, and didn't involve any emotions at all.”

2) “I was
looking down at my own body from up above and saw doctors and nurses fighting
for my life. I could hear what they were saying. Then I got a warm feeling and
I was in a tunnel. At the end of that tunnel was a bright, warm, white,
vibrating light. It was beautiful. It gave me a feeling of peace and
confidence. I floated towards it. The warm feeling became stronger and
stronger. I felt at home, loved, nearly ecstatic. I saw my life flash before
me. Suddenly I felt the pain of the accident once again and shot back into my body.
I was furious that the doctors had brought me back. This experience is a
blessing for me, for now I know for sure that body and soul are separated, and
that there is life after death. It has convinced me that consciousness lives on
beyond the grave. Death is not death, but another form of life.”

3) “[During
my NDE] I saw a man who looked at me lovingly, but whom I did not know. [Later]
At my mother's deathbed, she confessed to me that I had been born out of an
extramarital relationship, my father being a Jewish man who had been deported
and killed during the Second World War, and my mother showed me his picture.
The unknown man that I had seen years before during my near-death experience
turned out to be my biological father.”

Dr. Van Lommel notes in his research that at the moment of their
“deaths” not only are NDErs conscious, but their consciousness becomes more
expansive than ever.They are able to
think hundreds of times clearer/quicker than normal and remember every detail
of their lives since childhood, yet all the while they are clinically dead and
showing zero brain activity!This raises
the obvious philosophical question, if consciousness is merely a by-product of brain activity, as the scientific-materialist establishment would have us believe,
then how is it possible for millions of people to experience these
phenomena?Whether they are authentic
visits to the afterlife or merely hallucinations, either way, NDEs defy the
orthodox theory that consciousness arises from brain activity.Just like Dr. Moody, Dr. Van Lommel found that his patients lost
all fear of death after coming back from their NDEs, and the reason for this,
Dr. Van Lommel says, “is because they have experienced that
their consciousness lives on, that there is continuity. Their life and their
identity don't end when the body dies. They simply have the feeling they're
taking off their coat.”

“The NDE may climax with a merging into an indescribably
loving and powerful white light that emanates from the divine, holy, and
sacred. This leads to a mystical or spiritual experience in which time and
space lose all meaning. Those who undergo an NDE feel embraced by something
much greater than themselves, or anything they previously could have imagined:
the ‘source of all existence.’ There's a certainty that consciousness exists
after death. Those who reach the mystical level of the NDE emerge with a
greater appreciation for life, less fear of death, and a reorientation of their
priorities to less material and more spiritual pursuits.The sense of reality of what near-death
experiencers see and feel is undeniably certain, and it's common to hear
expressions like ‘it was more real than real.’ It is difficult for those
‘coming back’ from an NDE to describe it; they often say it is ‘beyond language.’”-Dr. Rick Strassman, “DMT – The Spirit
Molecule” (220-1)

My good friend Chris
Wilshaw from the TaoWow blog
experienced an NDE while traveling abroad in India many years ago.Near the end of his visit, he became very
ill, weak, and unable to keep down food for over a fortnight, after which he
died.Chris wrote of that fateful
evening:

“At some point
that night I knew for sure I was dying. I knew when I was close to death. I
knew the point I had accepted death. I knew, for certain, as with all of these
stages, each one, what they were and what they meant. And I knew when I was
dead. The bliss and completeness were un-put-into-wordable and I have accepted
that now years on. The experience is with me now but language does not exist to
paint it.”

During his NDE (which
he emphasizes was a Death Experience, not a Near-Death
Experience) Chris went through most of Dr. Moody’s 9 stages.He did not hear any buzzing or beautiful
music, but did feel absolute peace and completeness, lifted out of his physical
body, traveled through a tunnel upward to the heavens, and met some notable
astral beings: He encountered a man painting statues of ancient deities who
claimed to be the inventor of Hinduism; he sat in silent meditation with the
Buddha; he interacted with a female Gaia entity; and finally “reached a
point of no beings, no separations, and pure completeness – no room for God, no
duality.”Amazingly
when Chris came back into his body the next morning, he was completely healthy,
had a full appetite, and felt all his energy replenished.Now looking back at his NDE, he recounts a
few basic truths that were shown to him:

“The basics of the truths that were
clearly made to me that night are that: All is this, one, perfect. Life and
death are nothing but ideas. The idea of separate self is an idea. We are like
nodes of a complete net and each node is the whole net, but for this experience
only sees as far as the next few nodes – beyond that is mystery, yet beyond
that is infinity and if anything is infinite, it is also you. You're infinite,
you are me as I am you as we are one. The one. Life and death are not separate
but one action. The ‘universe,’ the ‘infinite,’ whatever you call it, is
living, it has beings. These beings come and go, but their coming and going are
not life or death. An infinite number of beings have been born and will be
born. An infinite number of beings have died and will die. Yet in all of this
living and dying, the infinite had no beginning and will have no end. And that
infinite, is you.”

As for overcoming the fear of death, I
asked Chris, “are you less afraid or unafraid of death now?” to which he
replied, “What people fear is the thought of those left behind and the
dissolution and end of their ego. Death is easy for the one who dies and hard
on the ones left behind. It would be a great gift to let every person on earth
know that when someone dies, this is not sad and not an end – that way both of
these fears could be removed: No concern for those left behind and no last
wrestling with the ego. The NDE is a very powerful experience that does clear
up these human concerns. It would indeed be a gift if it could be given. Death
is not an end and is no bad thing. If I died now I would die peacefully and in
bliss.”

12
comments:

Stefan
said...

Hey Eric i want to thank you so much for the amazing truth you spread to help awaken people like me with mislead information.

It has helped me so much that i've been trying very hard to become a raw vegan, a better person to critise my ego and my core values that i lost as i grew up but in doing so im struggling even more to live on this physical plane where judgement is the norm.

Most of my life i have questioned to end it but am stopped by the guilt of emotions i would leave on my family. I look at all the good times i do have but are out weighed by the bad and there is so much bad in this world i just dont understand how im suppose to life the rest of my life?

I can't go ask help from anyone because it is not truthful just another way to confuse me and to shut me up. Im only 23 and i would easily say more then half my life has been shit what's going to change that this place is only getting worse.

I don't know how to live in this world apart from being sad, angry and upset at what is going on. It feels like im just a waste of space because i haven't found a way to help it seems like with no money you cant do anything to help but to get money these days you can care about anyone eles which i can't do.

I'm wondering if it's better to leave and end this physical connection because i don't enjoy, what's the point in doing something if you don't enjoy it?

I'm very sorry for this message i don't have anyone eles to look to(im not at all expecting a reply please don't feel guilty if you don't want to reply i dont mean for that, i just wanted to see if you had any information that could help me out)

Hey Stefan, thanks so much for that message, I can totally relate and feel for what your saying. Glad to hear you're looking to be raw vegan, don't worry about being too black and white with it though, it's best to just know that that's the top of the mountain health-wise, and simply eat the best you can taking it day by day, reducing meat and dairy, increasing raw fruits and veg. Sometimes I feel like you said "don't know how to live in this world apart from being sad and angry at what's going on." Ever since I've "woken up" to the grim reality of global immorality and psychopathic control I have this kind of background sadness/anger which I view as the collective unconsciousness that has become conscious in me. I work to raise my vibration and creatively express the sadness/anger in my writing, videos, martial arts, discussions, etc. and I think that's the best way to ease through the pain. When I first woke up to everything I used to feel it much worse than I do now. I remember screaming into my pillows and crying about slaughterhouse videos and news of genocides, pictures of deformed Iraqi and Palestinian children. I still feel terrible about all these things but since I've started really taking action in my life to counter-act these evils I've been able to transform those negative emotions into positive activism. And you don't need money to do it. I started my blogs, wrote my books, made podcasts, initiated meet ups and other things all for free. Hope that helps, bro. It's definitely better to maintain this physical connection and find a way to do good and have fun, work through the hard times viewing them as challenging lessons knowing you are gaining wisdom and power with each than to simply give up and waste this opportunity for positive growth and change. Peace!

I had a socalled NDE whilst being perfectly health in bed at 4am, I will never forget the overwhelming BLISS that is impossible to recreate on earth! I am of course not afraid to die now, cant wait for the return!

Hey Stefan. What helped me a lot when I was feeling this way was to get away from filling my mind with negativity all day. As much as it is important to get aware, continuing to dwell in it daily will be very destructive. Anything that is sad, depressing and negative, if fostered in your mind for a long period time, will just cause you to feel this way. Eat right, exercise, do what you love, follow your heart and train your brain to stay positive. We always have a choice. The world is the way it is but when you devote your time and emotions to its negativity, you let it win. The big lie is think that because the world is full of problems that are too complex and deep, how can one willing person do anything? Well, that's the trap! As cheesy and simplistic my advice might seem, that's all you need to get on the path of feeling happy. Know that how you feel is normal man. I've been there, Erics been there as it seems. We think we are alone but we are not. Parts of life are tuff and corrupted so don't beat yourself up about having been navigated into feeling this way. ITS NORMAL. We become aware, we make the change we need and we get better. You got this Stefan :)

Hi Stefan, I feel you and am sure many others do. The World Wide Web is really bringing us up to spreed on all the accumulated evil of this ongoing oppressive matrix which actually has been oppressing the world for many many generations.We could go back to the rise of the patriarchal city-states, Babylon. A very good book about this is called Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda, by Dan Russell, where he shows that the powers that be throughout his=story have tried through various means, violence, and mind control to keep psychedelic inspiration away from their slaves. To these small minorities we all are in varying degrees slaves.So, yeah, our collective conscious is NOW becoming more and more and more aware. we are FACING what we must face. If we are going to radically change things we have to LOOK and SEE and FEEL, and with this will come pain. But to undermine their mind control we must allow our awareness to expand.We all are under sttack, me, you, him her, all species, nature itself. So we must all find each other and support each other.I know it can seem overwhelming, and along with this we have our unique problems.There is an epidemic of people on psychiatric so-called 'medication' and this is because more and more people are distressed and find it hard to cope. And what this culture does is claim we are just robots reduced to chemical and electrical interactions and if we are upset by things it means our 'chemicals are unbalanced'. But this is a myth, as there's no medical science to support it. So, notice they push THEIR drugs, but are dead against psychedelics. Psychedelics which have been called by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial sacred names, and 'sacred medicine'.I recommend you think about having a psychedelic trip. But before you do to really research about set and setting. To choose a safe, comfortable, wonderful space, and to have your intention/set. For you this may be what you describe here.

it is true that often I have heard people post at psychedelic forums, and as soon as they say they are depressed and even suicidal others will come and say it is not good idea to have psychedelics when you feel like that. I don't agree. I think that is the BEST time. because often you can have worries, and you are worrying from set-pattern, and this pattern when tripping dissolves and you are suddenly seeing all different and deeper ways. of COURSE you may have a hellish period, but what I have found that if you start singing/Icaro this can help any trapped sense, and there is always music.The thing is not to take TOO much but enough.Of course being out in nature is extraordinarily healing if you are not in a place where you feel threatened. The central thing is love. Allowing a deep feeling of interfusion of love. I see your concern as that, love. And I wish you love and healing.

It was actually quite beautiful seeing you all come together to help Stefan. It's a nice change to see people help one another and spread love, instead of constantly living in little bubbles of fear and separation from one another.

I feel really bad about never replying and to the other comments, i want you to know your advice has really helped me out. Over the last 1.5 years ive pulled myself out of being at rock bottom to being at quite an amazing point in life. (That was the 3rd time i made the climb out but definitely the hardest and now will be the last). I now have direction and a dream to aim for, to create a platform from martial arts so i can help. I know i have a lot of struggle, suffering and pain ahead of me but im a lot more prepared from what i learn't being in the light of evil as to say...

I need to say a big fucken THANK YOU Eric for the effort and pain you go through to spread truth. You have no idea how much you as an individual have changed my life for the better and what goodness will spread from me, mostly because of you. Honestly thanks bro with all my heart.

I look forward hopefully near future training underneath you in Wing Chun and to say cheers personally.

What i really find quite cool about all of your help is even today this helps me so much. Every time i come back to this article for desperate help, i relate to it in a different way in which i need help. I know ill be reading this a few more times down the track. Thanks Anoy, Murz for helping me i absolutely appreciate it.

Red your kind words had me smiling.

(This is me speaking in my simplistic, real talk) Cheers for being a good cunt Eric, you've made change in my life and im sure you'll make huge change on this plain in due time. You and hiphop/music have created greatness within me. I can't thank you enough :)